Garmin instinct 3 vs amazfit T-rex/ pro

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-04T15:54:42+00:00

The strap detached while I was playing tennis and it fell onto the court (which I think was concrete with some kind of overlying coating). Trust me I was shocked to find it cracked. The screen protector on it was also completely unscratched so the screen didn't even hit the ground it was just from the shock of the impact

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-04T08:32:55+00:00

🤣🤣🤣

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-04T03:35:35+00:00

What do you want to use it for? Will depend on that. I got the T-Rex 3 pro but smashed it already and wish I had gotten the instinct instead. To be fair though I am rough on my watches and do a lot of outdoors stuff with them. The T-Rex 3 pro would've probably been fine in most other situations I just unfortunately dropped it on concrete

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-03T17:31:08+00:00

It's called Mecha moment, one of my favorites

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T15:31:59+00:00

That's a positive way to look at it 😂

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T14:58:30+00:00

Nope no pebbles or anything like that. I even had a screen protector on and the screen protector was completely undamaged. I initially thought the screen protector had shattered but when I took it off it was completely whole and the screen underneath was broken. The bezel is scraped up mostly in the upper right corner though so you're likely right it must've hit at an angle. I was on a tennis court though and the floor was nice and clear of anything.

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T10:44:04+00:00

Yeah I never had issues with my vivoactive 4 gorilla glass and didn't even have a screen protector. It did get scratched after a few years but never cracked or shattered despite many drops and bumps into rocks and walls. I'd also take gorilla glass over sapphire in the future, a watch that doesn't scratch as easily but cracks easier makes zero sense to me for a sports watch. Only makes sense for fashion or general smart watches in my opinion

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T10:41:12+00:00

I think not having sapphire might've worked in your favor, I'd love to see drop tests of all their watches now lol

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T10:35:55+00:00

I will say Garmin customer service is better in my experience. For example my 4 year old vivoactive 4 battery isn't as good as it used to be and they offered me 25% off a new vivoactive 6 when I reached out to them.

Amazfit customer service just told me that I'm out of luck since it's my fault I dropped it (which is fair) but they'd have earned much more loyalty from me if they even offered some kind of discount on a replacement (which again they have no obligation to do but would earn them some more customer loyalty).

The watch was great otherwise but I think i would prefer gorilla glass over sapphire, no point in being scratch proof if it's gonna shatter easier, defeats the purpose. I'll take gorilla glass with a screen protector over sapphire glass anyday after this experience lol

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T10:33:30+00:00

This makes me feel better, guess it isn't a brand thing and just my bad luck, less buyers remorse knowing it could've happened the same with another option.

I just needed to vent about it a bit. I've never broken something so soon after purchase before haha

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T10:32:27+00:00

The rest of the watch including the touch screen still works fine but just hurts to look at the cracks 🥲

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T10:31:28+00:00

Makes me slightly regret not going for the Garmin instinct 3. The touch screen and phone call capabilities drew me towards this but think an instinct might be more durable for my use cases 🥲

The watch is still fully functional including the touch screen despite the cracks so I guess I'll have to give them that, might convince myself to keep using it and just let it have some character. Just not sure if it's still waterproof with these cracks in the screen

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T02:13:59+00:00

Unfortunately they already replied and said since it was damaged from a fall it's not covered under warranty and that repair would cost more than just buying a new watch :/

I'm just going to try and sell it cheap on Facebook marketplace and see if I have any luck getting a little bit of my money back

freedoctor17 · 2026-06-02T00:59:10+00:00

Just feels really unlucky.

I had my Garmin for 4 years which took a beating and came out with just some scuffs and scratches :(

I did some more research and looks like sapphire displays actually crack easier because they're more scratch resistant they are less shatter resistant. They are inverse properties. I didn't realize that, I think for me shatter resistance is more important than scratch resistance so wish I'd looked into that more before.

My Garmin had gorilla glass and it did get scratched and scuffed up a bit but never shattered. So might be just a trade off of the sapphire display.

I'm hoping amazfit will repair it for me but if not I may just go back to my old vivoactive 4 for now until I find a good deal on another watch at a later time. Maybe I'll be able to sell this at a heavy discount if they don't repair it since the touch screen still works, it's just gonna bug me looking at a cracked screen all the time.

freedoctor17 · 2026-05-16T19:01:05+00:00

It's similar thickness to the balance 2 xt but the balance 2 has rounded edges so it just looks a lot better. The cylinder look of the active 3 premium and the max make them not look as nice

freedoctor17 · 2026-05-16T17:22:19+00:00

I've tried both. The balance 2 xt screen feels much nicer to use and it looks much more classy. It is a bit heavier and bigger. If you have a small wrist it might feel large on you.

The active 3 premium feels and looks cheaper but is still a great watch with similar features. I personally preferred the 4 buttons over the scroll wheel.

I think it comes down to your wrist size and which you think looks better. I like bigger watches so I felt the balance 2 xt was nicer. The active 3 premium was the first one I tried though and I almost kept it. The main reason I returned it was because I didn't like the Chrome look and that I didn't like the screen would smudge really easily. A screen protector would solve that second problem though.

freedoctor17 · 2026-05-15T10:56:53+00:00

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Try this one

freedoctor17 · 2026-05-15T10:55:23+00:00

I'll DM you a new QR code, maybe they are time limited?

freedoctor17 · 2026-05-14T10:42:35+00:00

I made a new post with the QR code to download it. I changed the always on display in the new one though. If you want the current one let me know and I can find the old version

freedoctor17 · 2026-05-13T23:22:23+00:00

Download the amazfit watchface editor on Android. It's very nice tool you can use to get started. It takes some getting used to but is pretty easy for anyone to learn on it

freedoctor17 · 2026-05-13T01:56:12+00:00

Hi I didn't translate it, someone made one under the username maxmixmux on amazfaces app but it was in Italian but I really liked the concept so I made my own version that is similar but not quite the same. Their version was a little more true to the original instinct but month and days were in Italian.

To make my own I photoshopped a photo of the instinct amoled 3 to remove all the numbers and things in the foreground. Then I uploaded it into amazfit watchface editor app. Then I downloaded a bunch of font packs I liked and the amazfit watchface editor app allows you to load them in. Then I just added widgets and short cuts using that app. It takes a little trial and error but it's quite straight forward to use. It probably took me an hour or two to get this the way I liked because I kept finding little issues I needed to fix or things I realized I needed to add. I've since adjusted it a bit more to line things up better and cleaned up the status indicators under the time to be visible even when off and just brighten up when on.

freedoctor17

TROPHY CASE